Reversible driving mechanism for clothes-wringers.



H. W. DARROW REVERSIBLE DRIVING MECHANISM FOR CLOTHES WRINGERS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 8, I916.

l,242,659. Patented Oct. 9,1917

3 SHEETS-SHEET'I- H. W. DARROW\ REVERSIBLE DRIVING MECHANISM FOR CLOTHESWRINGERS APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 8. 1916.

1,242,659, Patented Oct. 9, 1917.

H. W. D ARROW.

REVERSIBLE DRIVING MECHANISM FOR CLOTHES WRINGERS. APPLICATION men SEPT.a. 1916.

134,659., Patented Oct. 9,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- minimal application flied Jfieccmber '7, 1908, SerialNo. 466,337. Divided and this 8, 1916. Serial No. 119,029.

ass carers.

CHENEY WABD DAB/ROW, OF 'W INAMAC, INDIANA, A SSIGNUR, BY MESNE ASSIGN-MEETS, TO FRITZ MUSER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

REVERSIBLE DRIVING MEGI-IANISE EOE, fiLOTHES-WRINGEES.

1 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY WARD DAR- now, a citizen of the United States,'res id: ing at Winamac, in the county of Pulaski and State of Indiana,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reversible DrivingMechanism for Clothes-Wringers,

of which the following'is a full, clear, and

exact specification.

My invention relates to washing machines, more particularly tomechanisms for operating the rollers of clothes wringers, and cons1stsin devising means, whereby the rollers of a clothes wringer, set in theusual way upon a washing machine, may be operatively connected to thedriving shaft of the washing machine, and a manually oper- I atablecontrolling device whereby the roller driving mechanism is set in motionto romg machine, and may be stopped again.

tate the wringer rollers forward or reversely, irrespectively of: thedirection of rotation of the driving shaft of the washwithout stoppingor 'reversin the motor driving the shaft of the washmg machine. Amechanism constructed according to my invention for thus operating aclothes wringer is shown and described in my application filed December7th, 1908, Serial Number 166,337, of which this application is asub-division, in connection with the driving mechanism for a cylinderwashing machine. The mechanism is shown in the accompanying drawings,wherein Figure 1 is an end elevation, and

Fig.2 a side elevation of a washing machine with a clothes wringer setin position thereon, and having its rollers so operatively connectedwith thedriving shaft of the machine.

Fig. 3 is a fractional sectional view on. line 33 indicated in Fig. 1,but drawn on an. enlarged scale, of my improved .inechanism foroperating the rollers of the wringer, and

Fig. 4; is a sectional view thereof on line H indicated in Fig. 8.

The washing machine shown in the drawings is no part of the inventionclaimed herein, and 1s, therefore, shown and 'de--. scribed herein onlyto the extent necessary for the understanding of the construction,

and of the mode of operation, of the mech-" anism for operating thewringer, set up Specification of Letters ream.

' The motor 35 is mounted on the base brace 28 of the washing machineframe, approximately- 'nlidway between the posts 15. A pinion, fixed onthe forward end of the motor shaftqengages with the intermediate gear,by which the rotary motion of the 3110- j tor shaft is transmitted tothe shaft 4-9, the driving shaft of the washing machine. This shaft 49extends from its terminal bearing in block 17 (see Fig. 2) to thebushing 87 set adjustably in the casing 62, securedto;

the top of the washingmachine frame, and

wherein the mechanism for operating the wringer is arranged.

The wringer operating mechanism is;

shown in detail Fig. 3 and comprises the beveled pinions 88 and .90loosely set on the shaft 49, the intermediate shaft 94: journaled in thecasing 62 at right angle to" the shaft 49, andin line with the shaft ofthe wringer gears,clutch 95 being provided for coupling it thereto-thebeveled pinion 96 fixed on the end of the-shaft 9 1 and meshing with the,pinions 88 and a flanged collar 117, splined to the shaft 4-9 by thekey 118, and longitudinally movable thereon-and the manually operatablevcontrolling device, comprisingthe forked block 98, the crank 104:, lever10?, and handle 108 for the shifting of the collar 117 on the shafted).The collar 117 aotates with the shaft 19 and is provided on both of itsends with recessed abutments for engaging with the correspondinglyshaped projections 115 and 116 on the pinions 88 and 90, when shifted upor down from its normal, disengaged position shown in Fig. 3 of thedrawing. Thc'fcrlred block 98 embracesthe collar 117 betweenits annularflanges (see Fig. 4-) and its shank 100, extending into a longitudinalguideway 97 in the casing 62,

is slotted. The crank 10.4: engages in the slot 99 of the shank; its oneend isjournaled in the casing 62 and its other end is fixedin theeccentric bushing 101. The coil" spring 105 and cap nuts 106 serve tohold the parts snugly together.. The bushing 101 is connected, or madeintegral with, the lever 107, and a handle 108 is secured 130 its freeend for more conveniently moving the lever 107, whereby the crank 10e isturned. By; so turning, the crank 10s, the" collar 117 is moved in andout of engagement with either of the beveled plnions 88 and 90, therebylocking either of the pinions the collar 117 is moved in engagement withthe pinion 88 and the shaft 91 is set in motion rotating forward; byshifting lever 107 downward, in a position diametrically opposite tothat shown in Fig. 2 in full lines, the collar 114- is shifted in.engagement with the pinion 90 and the direction of the rotating motionof the shaft 9% 1S reversed.

By setting the lever 107 in the position in dicated in dotted lines inFig. 2, the collar 117 is moved into its intermediate position, shown inFig. 3, in which position it is not engaged with either of the pinions88 and and 9d, and the gears and shaft 94 stand still.

A coupling 111 is provided on the outer end of shaft 9% for couplingthereto of the wringer driving shaft 110, whereby its rotation istransmitted to the rollers of the wringer 112. Thus by the moving of thelever 107, the rollers of the wringer are driven forward or 'reverscly,as'may be required. It is not necessary to stop or reverse the motor,driving the shaft 49 of the Washing machine. The starting, reversing orstopping of the wringer rollers is effected and controlled independentlyof the motor and almost instantaneously, by merely mov ing, by hand, thelever 107 into its one or the other-position, as explained above.

The employment of this mechanism for this almostinstantaneously stoppingor reversing the rotation of the wringer rollers is of great importanceand advantage in the operation of power driven wringers, it beingnecessary, quite frequently, to reverse the direction of rotation oftherollers instantaneously, to prevent tearing of the clothes, when, asit quite often happens, some part of the garment gets caught on andwinds around one roller, when a continuing rotation of the rollers inthe forward direction would'tear it. The power-driven wringersasheretofore constructed cannot be reversed, and thus the garment,ifcaught in the rollers, as it often happens and can hardly be avoided,is torn. In such a case also the wringer must be taken apart, tountangle the torn garment, which cannot be otherwise freed from theroller.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination comprising a frame, a pair of rollers, rotatablymounted in the frame, intermeshing gears mounted on their matineedriving shaft with the gear on the interme diate shaft; substantially asherein shown and described.

2. The combination comprising a frame, a pair of rollers, rotatablymounted in the frame,intermeshing gears fixed to the axes of therollers, a driving shaft, gears loosely mounted thereon; an intermediateshaft operatively connected with the gears fixed to the axes of therollers; a gear fixed onthe intermediate shaft and meshing with thegears on the driving shaft; manually operatable device for clutchingeither one of the gears to the driving shaft, and means for rotating thedriving shaft; substantially as herein shown anddescribed.

3. The combination comprising a frame, a pair of rollers, rotatablymounted in the frame, intermeshing gears, fixed on their axes, forconvergently rotating the rollers, a motor, a driving shaft operativelyconnected therewith; two bevel gears loosely mounted on the drivingshaft; acollar slidable on the driving shaft between the bevel gears androtating. with the shaft, coupling means on each end of the collar, andon the gears; manually operatable means for shift- 0 ing the collar inengagement with one of the gears; an intermediate shaft, a gear fixedthereto meshing with the gears on the driving shaft, and meansoperatively connecting the intermediate shaft with the gears fixed onthe axes of the rollers;- substantially as herein shown and described.

i. The combination comprising a frame, a pair of rollers, rotatablymounted in the frame, intermeshing gears, fixed on their axes, forconvergently rotating the rollers, a motor, a driving shaft'operativelyconnected therewith; two bevel gears loosely mounted on the drivingshaft; an intermediate shaft, and means operatively connecting it withthe gears fixed to the axes of the 'rollers; a bevel gear fixed on theintermediate shaft, meshmg with the two gears on the driving shaft, andmanually operatable' means for locking either of the two gears 12a tothe driving shaft; substantially as herein shown and described.

5. The combination comprising a frame, a pair of rollers, rotatablymounted in the frame, intermeshing gears, fixed to the axes oftherollers, a' motor, and a driving shaft operatively connectedtherewith; selective gears, loosely mounted on the driving shaft; ashaft, operatively connected with the gears fixed to the axes of therollers, and With selective gears en the oiriving; she-ft, and mammiiyabie means for leaking either one of we selective gears te the driving'shszfiy sterieially as herein shown and described. v e v 6. Thecombination comprising a frame, a pair 0i roilers, rotetabiy mounted. inthe frame gears, re the axes of the rollers;

a meter, :emi a, driving shaft operatively connected Meie /nib; meuntedon the driving shaft; an mtermerimte Shara, opera tiveiji 60m? beWiilhthe gears fiXe on the wee of the gears Oil the driving shaft'withthe v gear on the intermediate shaft; substantially as herein shown anddescribed.

Witnesses: v R. 0; Review, A. L. Lommm.

HENRY WARD DARE/0W1? I

